Reaching Out
by Lady1Venus
Summary: After being wounded in battle, Kenpachi finds himself in the care of a human woman who runs a horse ranch. The worse part, Kenpachi doesn't remember who or what he is. KenpachixOC
1. Part 1

**Part 1**

_Author's Notes: Commissioned for a good friend of mine from deviantART._

Being bloodied and bruised, Kenpachi Zaraki made his way slowly through the trees. In his right hand, in a tight grip, was a sword, the only thing that really saved his life. However, there was one thing that kept running through his mind. Who was he and why did he have a sword? He was also wondering in why he was dressed in black robes with a white tattered haori? Of course he had more questions, which were confusing him, but that didn't stop him from carrying the sword, considering it was the only thing that saved his life. He continued on through the woods, trying to find… find what? Help? Daylight? Whatever it was, he continued on.

For hours he travelled, getting weaker as he went from loss of blood. He was suffering from a concussion, a broken arm and a very large gash in his left leg. With the severity of his leg, it was causing his pace to be extremely slow cause due to limping. With that, the movement of the muscles were causing much irritation to the wound, making each step he made painful.

It was nearing the break of dawn when Kenpachi found himself in a field surrounded around a wooden fence with a wooden structure several yards away. A little further from the structure was another one with large windows, indicating a house of some kind. From him walking all night in the forest made him wonder how he made it through at all without running into trees. In the forest, it would have been near impossible to see.

With a groan of pain, Kenpachi made his way towards the nearest building. With his fading strength, he knew he wouldn't have been able to make it to the house. With the slow approach to the closer structure, noise of animals was heard. Perhaps he could get help after all. If there were animals in the building, which he deduced as a barn of sorts, that meant the other building housed an occupant and that occupant would no doubt check on their animals soon enough and find him.

Getting inside the darken building, the sun was now just beginning to crest the tree line, he stumbled around, trying to find a place to rest. It took him only a few moments to find a vacant spot in a corner. His body then collapsed against the hay that was on the ground. Blackness was quick to take over his body before even hitting the hay. Unfortunately for him, it was the worse time for him to black out. Just as his body hit the hay, the barn doors opened, shining in the morning light of the rising sun.

At the entrance to the barn was a young woman with black hair, pulled back into a high ponytail. Dressed in green baggy clothing, her bright blue eyes shone like a beautiful summer's morning. A happy smile graced her lips as she turned on a light to look at the twenty horses she had in her stables. Though the sun was able to shine through the door opening, it wasn't enough light to view the entire barn, at least not yet anyway.

Each horse had an owner who lived in Kurakura Town. The horses were prized winning horses, used in horse races and other type horse related events. However the owners had no place to keep their horses and instead, rented a spaced from the woman, Selene Heartz. It all first began back when Selene's parents first were together, doing it as a means to make money. In time the couple became accustomed to the style and it became their way of living. After her parents died, from a car accident, Selene took up the mantel of keeping the family ranch alive and she so did with pride and passion. Selene was the only child, which gave her full legal rights to the land as it was willed to her.

Without saying a word, Selene strolled into the stables, going down to the far end. Each day she would take special care of five horses as there were too many for her to take care in a run of a day. With the amount she did in one day, each horse was groomed every five days. But before she would begin the grooming, they would first be led out into the pasture, allowing them the time to stretch their legs in the morning daylight. Her living on a ranch like she did, she had an outdoor field and an indoor track. The indoor track was something recently built for the winter months. The people who owned the horses all pitched in to have the indoor one made so their horses could stretch their legs everyday, even in winter.

Once the back barn doors were opened, which immediately led to the outdoor track, she proceeded to lead each horse out of its stall and to the pasture. It didn't take long for each horse to take its trek outside. Just as soon as all horses were out, she began her daily routine of cleaning each stall, getting rid of all the old hay and refreshing it with new hay.

Not once did she bother to notice one of the vacant stalls, at the front of the stables, had an occupant in it, nor did she really take time to notice the faint smell of blood. Of course the smell of blood was overpowered by the scent of hay and horsehair and other familiar smells in the stables.

Soon enough all twenty occupied stalls were equipped with fresh hay, water and food. It was now time for her to leave the barn and go and get the first horse, which would get it's weekly grooming. Cleaning five horses took nearly the entire day, once stopping for breaks every two hours and in one of those breaks; she took an hour off for lunch. With summer ending, Selene thought it best to have the horses be inside for the night. They were show horses, not a typical farm horse. The horses weren't used to being outdoors at night.

As the day began to end, Selene knew there was only an hour left before sun would start setting. She began to escort the horses back into the stables for the night. The only problem with doing that was the horses were all over the place. It often took her an hour to get all twenty horses in and locked up.

With a deep sigh of contentment, now with all horses back where they belong, Selene went to turn and leave the barn when the sound of hay moving and a whimpered moan was heard. Doing an about turn, her eyes scanned the stables carefully. Her body went tense.

Reaching towards the wall where a pitchfork rested. Grabbing it, she held it out in front of her, ready to strike if something were to attack her. Taking cautious steps, she followed the noise and found herself in front of an opened stall, which she never noticed before. The door wasn't open very far to really be noticeable but was enough to know someone or something opened it.

Carefully peaking an eye around the corner of the stall door, her eyes scanned the small area. A sudden gasp escaped her throat as her gaze came upon a very tall man with dried blood all over his face and clothes. He literally looked like hell. The man was hunched over half lying on some old hay. One arm lay limply at his side while the other held a sword. A very long ridged sword. A weapon unlike anything she had ever seen in her life.

Taking a few steps into the stall, she went to poke the man a little to see if he was dead or just lying there. Before she could poke the man, his leg moved, causing him to whimper once more. She jumped back, gripping the pitchfork more until hearing the painful moan. He was hurt and unconscious.

"Oh god!" she blurted. "You're hurt!"

Dropping the pitchfork, she rushed out of the stables and headed to the house. The man was too large to lift up and she was too far away for any ambulance to aide her. She would have to do things herself. Besides the man looked very strange wearing the black clothing, a sword laying loosely in his hand and his hair… his hair was really strange. All spiked up with bells on each end. He wore an eye patch over his right eye and had a very long scar from his forehead to his chin.

It took Selene several minutes to grab a bucket and filled it with medical supplies before rushing back to the stables where the man was still unconscious. She was quick to kneel at his side and do her best to wash off the dried blood and to be able to apply disinfectant to the wounds on his face, before going to where there were other wounds. She did her best to clean around the opened wounds and bandaged it so the dirty material of his clothes wouldn't cause an infection.

The man moaned once again and his eyes began to flutter.

Seeing he was finally beginning to wake up, Selene stepped back, allowing the man to wake and know his surroundings. She watched as his dark eye opened and he slowly looked around. At first his eye wasn't focused but soon light shone back into it, indicating he was seeing properly.

"What…" he groaned in a deep voice. "Where am I?"

"You're in my stables," answered Selene. "You somehow found your way into here without causing a stir to the horses. How you managed that, I don't know."

He looked at her before narrowing his eye. "What am I doing here?" he tried his best to be demanding but in his condition, it was quite difficult for him.

"I was hoping you could tell me," Selene ventured. "I just found you an hour ago and you were all cut up with dried blood."

"I…" he stopped. Why was he injured? He remembered fighting something, but what? He looked to his sword. "I'm not certain. The only thing I can remember is travelling through the forest in this state."

"Well you did take a pretty nasty whack to the head," she answered. "You could be suffering from some memory loss. I do have some medical training. It may only be temporary. Do you remember your name?"

He scowled. "Of course I do. Do you think I'm an idiot or something? The name's Kenpachi. Kenpachi Zaraki."

"Kenpachi?" she blinked. "That's an unusual name." She shook her head. "I'm Selene Heartz, the owner of this barn."

Kenpachi went to move but found he had no strength. "I need to find out what happened…" he moaned.

"You're not going anywhere in that condition!" Selene demanded. "You're going to stay right there while I go up to the house, make us something to eat and get you some blankets to sleep in. You're too badly wounded right now to move." Selene didn't like the idea of him sleeping in the stables for the night but it was still quite warm out so the night shouldn't be that much of a problem.

He snorted. "It would seem I don't have a choice in the matter." He seriously hated the idea of being 'bed ridden' even if his bed was just a pile of hay. He didn't know why but the idea of sleeping on hay did not bother him in the least. It was as if somewhere in his forgotten past he once slept in surroundings such as the position he was in now.

"No, you don't have a choice in the matter. Now just stay put before you reopen your wounds again." Selene was very demanding to someone she didn't know and could tell he was very tall. She had the scary feeling he probably could snap her in half with just one hand.

With a quiet mumble, he leaned his head back against the straw, trying to do what he could to relax. He never bothered to pay attention to her leaving. Why would he pay attention when on his mind was trying to figure out why he was there and how he ended up being wounded? But mostly he had to figure out why he had no memory.

For an hour he pondered his thoughts, trying to make sense of what happened, but just like when he first started, he had nothing to work with. The only thing he knew was the sword, laying on the ground, seemed to feel familiar to him as if it was his. But he couldn't even remember if it was.

"Kenpachi?" Selene called carefully, letting him know she had returned.

He slightly looked up to see she had a couple blankets draped in her arms as well as a plate of food on top of the blankets. She was taking careful steps not wanting to drop the plate. Kenpachi groaned. He didn't like the idea of having someone pamper him. It was annoying him but since he barely could move for the moment, he had no choice but to accept her offer.

"Thank you," he forced himself to say.

"You're welcome." She first set the tray down on the ground before setting down the blankets beside the food. Once her hands were free, Selene went over to Kenpachi and did her best to sit him up as best as possible without irritating the wounds so he could eat. As he was moved, he hissed in pain but remained silent. It was in his best interest to be sitting up a bit to digest the food. As soon as he was situated, she brought the tray up closer to his body for him to eat.

"Perhaps I should call for some help," she replied. "Your wounds do seem quite severe."

"I'll live," he managed, taking a bite of the food, tasting food like nothing he ever tasted before. In the depths of his mind he knew he never ate anything like this before and wherever he was from, never had food like this. But the one question kept popping back up in his mind, where was he from?

Selene watched in surprise as he ate everything on the plate. She never had seen anyone eat her food so fast. She had been known to be a good cook in the past but there were a few people who have complained saying her food sucked. But the way Kenpachi was eating, she didn't have to be told he was enjoying it. Either that or he just didn't care what the food tasted like, but she had the feeling it was the former option.

"That was good woman," he finally said once he finished everything on the plate, confirming what she already suspected. "I haven't had food like that before, at least that I can remember."

Selene blushed a little. "Thank you. I've never had a compliment quite like that before." She looked at his wounds. "I know I cleaned up around your wounds but maybe I should take a better look at them before it gets too dark out. The stables light isn't the greatest."

Kenpachi groaned and went to move but a shot of pain shot through his leg, forcing him to hold back a wince. Wincing and showing his pain was not his style. "Fine," he said gruffly, leaning back. "But no one is to know this happened."

Selene nodded. "I have a large first aide kit here in the stables in case of an emergency." She left the stall to retrieve it.

For the next hour, just like when she cleaned off the blood around his wounds, she did what she could on Kenpachi's arms and legs, being careful not to rest any material of his torn clothing against the wounds. Eventually the large man was bandaged up and her work was done. What surprised Selene the most was not once did he grunt or wince in pain, but she could see it in his eyes that he was in pain. She couldn't believe how stubborn the man actually was being about this.

Finished, Selene leaned back to admire her work. "Hopefully that will do. It's all I can do for now, unless I call for help."

"It will be fine," he answered.

Giving him a nod, she turned to the blankets. "Here's some blankets for you to sleep with tonight. Tomorrow, one of the horse's owners is coming, so I want you to be very quiet in here while you're here. They will be pissed if they see someone wounded near his horse."

"Like I care," he answered gruffly.

Selene's hands snapped to her hips. "Well I do. My only sources of income are the owners of these horses. So I won't have you jeopardize my finances." She was quick to turn away from the man, offended at his words. She closed stable doors. Normally she would lock the doors but with the man inside, she felt perhaps it would be best to keep them unlock. What if he was to get up during the middle of the night and leave or had to go to the bathroom or something?

* * *

At her usual time for getting up, Selene got herself ready and breakfast ate by her usual time. Going on the chance Kenpachi was still in the stables, since his injuries were pretty bad, she even made him the same breakfast. She was going to be a little late in starting her work, but that did tend to happen when she was expecting someone. When days like this would come, Selene would take the horses out, as usual, and clean their stalls, but she wouldn't clean groom the horses, until later that day as the owner would arrive shortly after ten.

Getting to the stables, she noticed the barn door was slightly opened and her heart sped up, did he actually leave? She wondered to herself.

"Kenpachi?" she called, stepping into the stables. She went over to the stall he slept in. Sure enough he was there still. She gave a sigh of relief as his one eye looked up to see her.

"What?" he grumbled. "Did you think I would leave from here in my current condition?" he ventured. "Either you're an idiot or just don't realize that I can barely move. You want to know how hard it was to get up and go outside just to have a piss?"

Selene slightly winced at his tone of voice, showing he was irritated.

"Fine!" she snapped back. "If you don't want your breakfast, I didn't have to make you any! Geesh. I go out of my way to make something and what do I get in return, bitched at."

Kenpachi's eye narrowed. "Don't give me the guilt trip woman, cause it won't work on me."

"Whatever," Selene stated, putting down the tray. "I'll let you eat and in the mean I need to do my daily chores before my guest is to arrive."

Seeing she set the tray right beside him, he carefully sat up on his own to eat. Selene stepped out of the stall, closing it and began her workday. At the appointed time of her guest's arrival, she had just finished the last stall.

"And how are you keeping things?" a voice asked startling her.

Selene was quick to snap around. "Mr. Tolin!" She looked at her watch to see it was indeed time for his arrival. "Forgive me, I was a bit detained this morning."

"That is quite alright," Tolin smiled. "But since I'm here, why don't I do my routine inspection? Normally I like to see my horse first, but this time I'll make an exception."

Selene smiled. "Be my guest." She waved her hands over to where the man's horse stall was, which just happened to be directly beside the stall where Kenpachi was resting. Her heart hammered in her chest, nervous about him coming across her uninvited guest.

Doing her best to not appear nervous, Selene stepped away from the stall, allowing the man to do his inspection. She watched him carefully to be sure he didn't take his eyes and look over to the next one to see a man lying there. "Are you satisfied?" she asked after he stepped out of the stall, giving her a smile.

"As always," he said. "Your cleaning efforts are great. You know I've been one of your customers since before your parents died and I must say you do a great job here. I think it might be even better than your parents."

Selene feeling astonished by his compliment gave a shy smile. "Thank you. I try my best."

He smiled, about to say something more when something caught his eye. Taking a scan around the stables, his eyes soon came upon the vacant stall where Kenpachi was hiding. It didn't take him long to see the door was slightly jarred opened. "You don't normally leave a vacant stall partially opened."

Selene took a deep intake of breath. Oh no! Kenpachi had been found out? Her body began to shake, producing sweat as Mr. Tolin stepped towards the stall, looking in. She immediately cringed expecting his outburst, but when it never came, she cracked her eyes opened.

"Is something the matter?" he was staring at her like she just grew an extra arm.

Giving a gawking look. She looked past him to the stables. "You didn't see anyone in there?" she suddenly blurted out.

He blinked. "No." His head tilted, puzzled by the question. "Should I have?"

Selene stepped away forward to peak inside and yet she could see Kenpachi laying there on the hay like she last seen him before she took his food tray back to the house when she began to clean the stalls. What was going on? She could see Kenpachi but Mr. Tolin couldn't.

He stepped closer to her. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked.

Selene turned back the man. "I…I think so. I guess I must have been dreaming."

He gave her a smile again. "Maybe you need a vacation."

She shook her thoughts. "No, there's no need for that. I love doing this job."

With a nod, he turned towards the opened back door. "Well if you don't mind, I shall go and tend to my horse."

"Of course," she answered. "He was just groomed yesterday."

"That's good to hear." Mr. Tolin made his way to the back of the barn and out towards the pasture, leaving Selene staring at the vacant stall.

With numbed fingers, she pulled the stall door opened and looked at Kenpachi. "What the hell is going on?" she whispered.

Kenpachi looked at her, getting ready to snap back saying he didn't know when an image formed in his head. The image was him a few others dressed like him and they were walking by people but the people weren't even looking at them or acknowledging their existence… like they couldn't be seen.

"I suppose," he finally responded. "It's because I can't be seen by most humans. Although it's strange that you can see me."

"By most humans?" she blinked, confused. "Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"That's a good question," retorted before giving a slight wince. "And one, I don't remember the answer to."

Selene stared at him for several minutes before finally making up her mind that he probably didn't know the answer but now she had even more questions than answers. Knowing she couldn't dwell on the subject since her guest was still there, she turned away from the wounded man and made her way to the pasture so she could begin grooming one of the horses while Mr. Tolin was around. She knew she wouldn't be able to groom the horse properly, but at least she could do what she could.


	2. Part 2

**Reaching Out  
**Part 2

After Mr. Tolin left, Selene was able to finish up on her work. While she worked, questions plagued her mind, but just as she finally got all the horses inside for the night, the questions finally won out on her. Marching over to where Kenpachi was resting, she was now ready to demand for some answers. Who the hell was this guy? He showed up out of nowhere, injured with a sword and now most humans couldn't see him. This was completely unheard of. She looked at Kenpachi as he lay there in the stall, still wounded as ever.

"I need some answers," she demanded, breaking the silence.

Kenpachi slowly looked up, giving her a 'what' look. "Can't give you answers to what I don't know," he answered a bit harshly.

"You must have some idea on who you are since you told me earlier that humans can't see you. How do you know this?"

His uncovered eye hardened. "Look, if you have a problem, you can just kick me out and I can find some other way to get help. You know I have a head wound, which would seem I'm suffering with memory loss. If I had to wager a guess, my memories are returning slowly as certain events arises. Now back off."

Selene gasped, taken aback by his harsh tone. She didn't know what to say to that. She was at a complete loss for words. Taking a deep breath, she gave a deep sigh. "So now what?" she asked. "You can't go to the hospital if no one can see you."

"Guess that means for me to get better, you'll have to do it," he stated. "I don't like this anymore than you do, but this is the way it has to be."

"And just how the hell am I to do that? She asked, hands on her hips.

Kenpachi grunted. "You're the human, you figure it out."

Her eyes widened at being referred to as a human like as if he wasn't. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Are you a human?"

"Does it look like I'm a human?" he challenged. "I mean come on, I'm carrying a sword. Have wounds, which would be fatal to ordinary humans. You can see me but many humans cannot. And humans who can see me are very few far and inbetween. And you even said yourself I have an unusual name."

Selene really wanted to snap a come back, but her mind drew a blank. He was right on all accounts. Mr. Tolin wasn't able to see him and yet she could. He was carrying around a strange looking sword, nothing she ever seen or heard of before. And his wounds did look fatal and yet he was still alive. The only logical thing she could do was to aide him in the best way possible, which was to deal with his wounds herself. It would be the only way to get rid of him and hopefully perhaps in time, more of his memories would return and she could get some answers.

With an exasperated sigh, her hands dropped from her hips. "Fine. Right now, you can barely walk with those injuries so you'll have to remain here until you can at least get enough strength to walk to the house. I do have a friend who owes me a favor. He might be able to help me to help your wounds heal."

"Are you crazy?! You can't pull that off, you'll be considered a nut," he retorted.

"Not when I'll do it over the phone," she answered. "He lives in another city and we're outside of Karakura Town."

"Karakura Town?" he questioned. "That sounds familiar." His eyes became unclear as he if was remembering something.

Selene stepped forward, seeing that Kenpachi was no longer looking at her but seemed to be in a trance. "Kenpachi?" she asked. "You ok?"

In Kenpachi's mind, images were coming to him once again. But this time it was a young teenage boy with short orange hair. He wore a similar outfit he was wearing and the two were fighting one another. For Kenpachi though, he was grinning, having fun. Watching from a distance was a tiny little girl with cotton candy pink hair.

"Ichigo…" Kenpachi finally called aloud.

"Ichigo?" blinked Selene. "As in Ichigo Kurosaki?

Kenpachi's eyes came back into focus and he looked at Selene as she was slowly stretching a hand out towards him. "What?"

"You just said Ichigo. I know a young boy by that name. Ichigo Kurosaki. His family runs a medical clinic straight out of their home. I haven't seen Ichigo in over a year though."

"Yeah… the name sounds familiar but I'm not sure why. But there's a young boy I know and he's very strong and I remember fighting him."

Selene retracted her hand, stepping back. "Maybe we're talking about a different Ichigo then. The Ichigo I know wasn't a fighter, at least not the last time I saw him. I better head up to the house and get us some supper. My chores are done for the day. I'll see you in about an hour. In the meantime I'll make that phone call to my friend to find out if there's anything I can help you with."

Stepping back further to the door of the stall, Selene stepped out and was quick to leave the man alone to his thoughts. She could tell by his set jaw he wanted to be alone.

* * *

After nearly two weeks dealing with Kenpachi in the stables, Selene was finally able to have him moved to the house where she felt he was safer. At least there, she didn't have to worry about someone accidentally seeing him in case that person was like herself and could see someone who wasn't supposed to be seen. Plus with him in the house, she was able relax knowing he would be warmer and his wounds wouldn't get an infection due to the hay and horses.

True to her word, she was able to get some help to heal Kenpachi's wounds and now he was on the amend. She was surprised to see he was healing faster any human she ever knew or thought to have known. Kenpachi still had some broken bones but there wasn't anything she could do about them except make sure he moved as less as possible. For his other wounds, they all healed up nicely.

And to be sure he didn't move too much, she made sure to set him up in a bedroom with an adjoining bathroom, which happened to be her room and she took another room. The room he was in was formally her parents and she took her old bedroom when her parents were alive.

"This is not what I had in mind," Kenpachi complained after the third morning waking up inside the house. "And I don't like to be pampered either."

"Well tough!" Selene snapped. "The sooner you stop acting spoiled and hating everything I do, the sooner you can be fully healed and we both can be rid of one another. I didn't ask for your company."

"Nor did I," the retorted. "I feel like getting out there and fight."

Selene rolled her eyes. "Here we go again. What is it with you always on the idea of fighting?" Every night when she would finish her job for the day, she'd hear the TV from her bedroom on, very loud and it would be the same thing over and over. Either him watching some sort of blood sport like wrestling or he'd have on the movie station watching the best fighting action movies out there.

"Sitting around all day and doing nothing is boring." He then smiled. "But fighting, now that's exciting."

"You're impossible," she huffed in defeat. "How's your injuries?"

He flexed his arm with a slight wince but didn't seem to be too bothered by the pain. "Getting better. I think today I'm going to take a walk."

"You can't do that!" she gasped. "You still have broken bones."

"I've had worse before and still moved," he answered, remembering that fight with the boy Ichigo and remembering he survived the brutal attack. Another face was also popping into his mind often, a small cotton candy pink haired girl who had a very cheery look about her. She was very tiny compared to him, but who was she? In his most recent dream two male faces appeared. One had no hair and the other wore his hair in a fashion that reached around little past his ears.

"You're an idiot," Selene huffed again. Although at the same time, she commended his efforts in trying to get better faster. She wished she knew more about him but it was quite difficult when he had no memories and what memories he was producing were just mostly images. When he was still in the stables, she often came upon him while he was dreaming and he was often calling out names.

When she would know he was awake, she would question him the names and his answer was always the same 'how the hell should I know?'

"Hey," he spoke quietly, attitude changing. "You remember last week when you asked me some names?"

"Yes. You spoke of a few of them and said their names often."

"Can you remember what they were?"

"Of course. Ikk-aku. Yumi-chika and Yachiru. Yachiru sounds like a girl's name."

At the mention of Yachiru and Selene thinking it sounded like a girl, a memory flash appeared in his head. This time he looked considerably different, hair falling in his face. At his feet was a baby with cotton candy hair. The baby was crawling on the ground nearby a group of bloody dead guys and she didn't look terrified. In fact she crawled right over to him and touched his sword and smiled after getting blood on her fingers. Mesmerized by her, he decided to give her a name, as she knew she wouldn't know her own name. He called Yachiru, after someone he once admired. Of course it amazed him to see she wasn't scared of blood.

"Yachiru…" he murmured as he looked at Selene. "I gave her that name after saving her life from a bunch of bandits. She was only a baby at the time."

"You don't seem the type to be sympathetic over a small child like that," she answered.

"Normally, I'm not. But with her, it was different and later she became a big part of my world, including being my Lieutenant." Yachiru was the name of the pink haired girl he kept seeing.

"You're Lieutenant?" Selene blinked. "Are you in a military of sorts."

"You can say that. I'm a Squad leader and if my memory is serving me correctly there's 13 Squads and I'm the leader of the 11th Squad."

Selene snorted. "Just my luck. You wound up in my barn; love to fight and you're a leader of a Squad with my favorite number. This day keeps getting better and better."

"Deal with it woman," he stated. "Do you think I asked for your help? You willingly offered it. So don't patronize me on something you did yourself."

Annoyed, Selene gave him the finger before turning away. "Breakfast will be ready soon. It's actually a wonder you're up right now."

He glanced at her as she began to walk out of the room. "It's hard to sleep when the blasted sun shines right on my face. How can you stand getting up this early?"

"Done it nearly my entire life, so it's no biggy." She turned down the hall, out of sight of the tall man.

Pulling off the covers, Kenpachi slowly got off the bed and carefully made his way to the bathroom to do what he needed to do before making his way to the kitchen. The ranch wasn't very big, by a long shot. He could remember where he lived it was large with a lot of people living inside it. Though he couldn't remember the reason why that was, though he had a feeling it was because he was Squad leader. Perhaps that large building he lived in was a place where everyone who served under him lived.

* * *

In the Soul Society, everyone was getting worried. Kenpachi Zaraki had not checked in and it had been two weeks since he left to fight some strong Hollows. Head Captain Yamamoto was getting worried. The Winter War was slowly approaching and he already had dispatched two of Zaraki's best men to assist with Captain Hitsugaya and his team on helping Ichigo to deal with the growing concern of Arrancars appearing.

"Head Captain," spoke up Jushiro as they were all having a Captain's meeting. "Perhaps someone should go to the World of the Living and inform Captain Zaraki's men of his disappearance. Maybe while being in Karakura Town, they could search for their Captain."

"I have already thought of that idea," the old man said. "If I were to do that, that could give Aizen a tactical advantaged."

"Not quite," spoke up Mayuri. "I have been monitoring the activity in the World of the Living and there is hardly any sightings of the Arrancars as of late. It is safe to assume, the traitor isn't monitoring either. One from Heuco Mundo has to be in the Living World in order to see anything or report back."

"What are you suggesting?" asked Jushiro.

"I'm suggesting." Mayuri looked to the illed Captain. "If the Head Captain were to open communications to that girl's house where Captain Hitsugaya is staying, I'm sure he could get the message to Zaraki's men."

"Why would you want to help Kenpachi?" asked Sajin. "We all know you two don't get alone."

"As you all know we have to mobilize all we can for this upcoming battle and in doing so, we need all available Captains to participate. This has nothing to do with who I like and dislike."

"Captain Kurotsuchi is right," Yamamoto agreed. "Right now we can't afford to bicker amongst ourselves. Kenpachi's disappearance is a problem and for all we know, Aizen could be behind it. We have to find him. I shall send word to Captain Hitsugaya of the matter and he can relay the message to those who need to be informed."

The old man took a deep breath, taking a moment to close his eyes for a moment before regarding the rest of the Captains. "In the meantime, we shall also put our own efforts into finding him as well, but we will have to do it discreetly. One member of each Squad shall be sent to World of the Living and search, but it will be covered up on the idea of hunting down Hollows. Captain Kurotsuchi, your Squad will remain here and work on trying to locate Kenpachi through your computers. We need to solve this problem as quickly and quietly as possible. The less who know, the better. Dismissed."

As the Captains disbursed, Yamamoto stood and headed to the room where he could contact Hitsugaya. He ignored everyone else around him, doing the task he needed to do. It didn't take him long to activate the big screen, once getting to the room. As the screen revealed the room, he could see Toshiro and Zaraki's two men.

"Good, you're here," the old man began.

Toshiro turned to see the old man. "What is it?"

"Captain Hitsugaya. There is a new situation at hand. Where is your Lieutenant?"

"She is with Renji and Ichigo," the young Captain answered.

"Good. The less who knows, the better."

"And you want us to be present?" asked Ikkaku.

"This message is for the both of you," answered the old man. "Captain Zaraki has gone missing. He was last reported to have been dealing with a group of Hollows from outside of Karakura town and we never checked in."

"How long has he been missing?" Yumichika asked, giving a slight worried look.

"Two weeks. I need the two of you to discreetly look for your Captain, making it look as though that isn't your latest assignment."

"I see," Toshiro closed his eyes for a moment. "And you want to be sure in case Aizen is keeping on the lookout he doesn't know one of our Captains is missing."

"And we don't know if Aizen is responsible for his disappearance. We can't let him get the tactical advantage with this."

"Agreed." Toshiro turned to the Squad 11 officers. "So now you have to double your efforts. Keep up with our current assignment as well as look for your Captain."

"We'll find him," Ikkaku glared. "Captain Zaraki is a stubborn man. He won't die that easily."

Yamamoto nodded and soon the large screen went dark.

Toshiro turned his full attention to the two Squad 11 men. "And what do you think you'll do?"

"We'll first check out the last place where Captain Zaraki was last located," Yumichika answered.

The two men opened their soul candy and produce their souls out of the faux bodies. "Let's go Yumichika."

The two then jumped out of Orihime's window, leaving their two bodies behind, Before Toshiro could say anything. He knew what those two were doing. They were Kenpachi's best men, both equivalent to being a Lieutenant, but since the young girl had it, they took the next best positions.

* * *

As the days progressed, Kenpachi began to heal even more, more so to the point, he began to take walks outside of the house more and sometimes would come upon Selene cleaning the horses. He would throw her tons of questions about her job, annoyed and bemused in how she made money like that. With time passing by, he continued to slowly remember things. The memories were more coming to him in images where he'd have to piece them together.

For Kenpachi though, it was annoying him how he kept winding up crossing paths with her during her workday. It's not like he was meaning to do it, but it just kept happening and each day he would see her hard at work, the more he actually thought she was attractive. In the meantime, while he was getting 'friendly' with Selene, two of his own men were searching for him. They were getting frustrated they were turning up nothing, but they weren't going to give up.

Finally one evening, after settling down for the night, Kenpachi had another dream and this time the dream was very vivid. It was dealing with him and the fight he was in, which had him the predicament he was in now, staying at Selene's.

"Ah!" he woke with a shout, springing himself straight into a sitting position. Sweat poured down his face as his face raced wildly. It was very fresh in his mind what the dream had been about. The dream was the key to what was truly going on.

Seconds later, Selene came running in the room, turning on the light. "Kenpachi!"

"What the hell was that?!" he blurted as he lifted one leg up and then rested an arm on it which his head fell onto the arm.

"What the hell was what?" she asked stepped closer. "You just sounded like you had a bad dream."

"Not a dream," he answered as he looked up to her fearful eyes. "A memory."

"A memory?" she blinked stopping just short of the bed.

"In the reason why I ended up in your barn." He looked over at his sword, resting against the wall by the bathroom door. "I was fighting some obnoxious monsters called Arrancars, winding up wounded during the fight, but that wasn't going to stop me from killing them. By the time the last one fell, I was thrown to the ground and…" he brought his hand up to the back of his head.

"And when that happened, you fell on something, causing you to have a concussion, screwing around with your memories." Selene sighed in relief, he was remembering more, which was about time. He had now spent a month with her and was now getting annoying.

"Those damn pushovers," he growled before giving a mocking grin. "Ha! Now whose boss? Captain Kenpachi Zaraki never goes down easy." A laugh roared out of him, enjoying the idea he kicked their asses. He could remember defeating the Arrancars, but only because they got careless thinking Kenpachi was down for the count when in fact he jumped back to his feet and was able to attack with the last ounce of his spirit energy, pulling up his eye patch, releasing his entire stock pile of reitsu. But it was then when he lost his memories after Arrancars fell. "Just you wait Aizen, you're day is coming."

"Aizen? Who is Aizen?" asked Selene.

Kenpachi looked to Selene, realizing he spoke aloud. "Aizen is…was a Captain, but he and two others betrayed us and left to create havoc. Aizen is the commander of the Arrancar fleet." There was still one major memory he was forgetting and that dealt exactly what he was a Captain of.

"That's insane!" Selene blurted. "Are you saying he was once what you are but then betrayed your people and now you were attacked by his own followers?"

"Basically," Kenpachi nodded. "Aizen is a real whack job."

"Whatever society you live in, I don't think I would want to be there."

"Don't worry, you won't have to," he added with a snort. "The Soul Society isn't for humans."

"Soul Society?" Selene blinked. "What is that?"

Kenpachi looked perplex by the question. "How the hell should I know?" he snapped. "You just said 'society' and my brain popped up 'Soul Society'."

"You know what," she started getting upset. This man, though he was very attractive, was getting on her last nerve. It didn't matter that for the past week, every time she would look at him, she felt herself getting aroused by his presence. "You are a real piece of work you know that. Here I am trying to help you and all you can do is insult me at every turn when I question something about what you said." Even now, she was currently hiding the fact that looking at his near nakedness, she was feeling turned on.

Kenpachi's eye narrowed in annoyance. "And I'm tired of your constant questions. It's as if you want me to leave."

"Well I do!" she growled. "You're getting in the way of my work load. Having to buy double the amount of groceries than I normally do. Have to buy things I don't normally and it's really beginning to piss me off!" The last three words were yelled in anger.

"And who's fault is that?!" he added, adding in his own amount of anger. He pulled the blankets off him, getting up as she stepped forward. "I wasn't the one who went and made you do what you did. You did that all on your own."

"I will blame you if I want!" she snapped, getting closer. "This is my house and you are only the guest!"

"Yes! The guest! You should respect your guests not yell at them!"

With an impatient scream, her eyes blazed in complete anger. "Respect!? You're the one who isn't respecting me!"

"Is that so?" His hands were now on his lap, getting ready to stand. "So then why are you the one who started yelling at me?" That was a fair question.

"Because!" she screamed. "You infuriate me!"

"Look who's talking?"

"Get the hell out!" she screamed.

With a blink of eye, instead of standing, Kenpachi grabbed the woman's shoulders, now that she was in his arms reach and pulled her tight against his body. She released a small gasp as she found herself wrapped in his arms, tight against his hard torso.

He grinned, loving the idea of finally able to feel her body. For the past few days, her own supple body was arousing his and it was getting on his nerves. "Now, whose calling the shots?" he commanded.

Selene's heart hammered in her chest as she continued to look at him in his one eye. All anger was now gone and was replaced by a bit of fear and excitement. It had been a long time since she had a man's arms around her body and feeling Kenpachi's strong arms, her body was betraying her. It was reacting in a way she hadn't felt in a long time.

Taking a deep breath, she was going to rise to his challenge. "I am," she whispered hotly against his face. In an act, she never thought she'd ever see or do; she lifted her hands to rest on either side of his face. Before either could blink or realize what was going on, her lips were crush to his.

For only several seconds Kenpachi was startled by her move, but it surely didn't take him long to act on what his body was now telling him. Pushing her further into his body, his lips pressed hers even harder, kissing her bruisingly. Small grunts of pleasure escaped from her throat as the kiss went from shock to rough, both trying to seek dominance over the other. It didn't take Kenpachi long to force his tongue into her mouth where she was quick to meet up with him and the two began a duel.

He was pressing into her back with a bruising effort, but she didn't seem to care as her hands were tangled into his hair, giving it a tight grip. From the pressure of his arms, she fell into his lap but instead of feeling uncomfortable, she was quick to straddle his lap, pushing against him. His arms left her back to wrap around her behind, pressing her even closer as he found the ability to stand up from the bed only to turn around and press her into the bed, not once breaking the kiss.

* * *

_If you wish to read the lemon part of the story you'll find it here… ht pp :/ members. adultfanfiction profile. php ?no= 1296914709_


	3. Part 3

**Reaching Out  
**Part 3

The next morning, Selene woke to feeling a bit sore down below. It took her a few seconds to focus before the memories returned to her. Her eyes widened, heart going into overtime. She didn't… did she… Her heart then froze as she felt the bed shift. Sitting up in a hurry, she looked to her left to see Kenpachi beside her, sound asleep. Looking down at herself, there was no denying the fact she was naked and it was easy to see he was too since their clothes were scattered all over the floor. It was a very easy conclusion to make, as it was the very reason why she was sore down below, the two had sex and she wasn't used to having sex anymore and not used to his size.

"Oh my god," she blurted, finding her voice.

Her cheeks flamed in complete embarrassment. Never in her life or even wildest dreams had she ever had hate sex with nearly a total stranger. Worse part of it was though, now that she could remember every second of it, she couldn't bring herself into hating herself for doing it. She was the one who put on the first move and just from his move alone; it was painfully obvious he wanted it just as badly as she did. They had spent the entire day, having nothing but instinctive passionate sex. Luckily for her though, yesterday was a day off for her. In fact she had an entire week off. All the horses were not in the stables as their owners had picked them up, taking them to a festival.

"What is it, woman?" asked a groggy Kenpachi. "I was having a good dream." His one eye opened to look at her bareback. "Although, waking up to the site I'm looking at is quite appealing."

She gasped once again, turning to look at him again. "You're awake!" she squeaked.

"It doesn't take much when you blurt out first thing in the morning before taking into consideration that I might still be asleep." Rolling over, he gave her a good view of his naked chest. On his shoulders, she could see her scratch marks caused from her nails from their activities.

She was quick to turn her head, not wanting to believe how wild she was with him. "Ummm… I guess I should get breakfast started."

Grinning, he turned his head over towards a wall where a mirror stood beside the bed. Curving his back, he took a look, finding more scratch marks. "Man, woman! Are you ever brutal? I don't think I've ever had a woman as wild as you."

Catching on to what he meant, Selene turned 10 shades of red. She herself couldn't believe what she did. She never had done that to someone before.

"Yeah… well…" she pulled the blankets off her, taking the sheet instead and wrapping it around herself as she got up off the bed. "I'm going to take a quick shower and then get dressed before having breakfast."

"Sure you don't want another go in the shower?" he smirked, now teasing.

"No!" she snapped, still vibrantly red. She was quick to rush into the bathroom, locking the door behind her, preventing him from entering.

Kenpachi laid back on the bed, putting his arms behind his head, laughing. He hadn't felt this relaxed since…since the day he became Captain of Squad 11. His laughter died as more memories came to him. This time he was remembering his partners Ikkaku and Yumichika who were with Captain Hitsugaya searching for more clues about the Arrancars.

"Damn it!" Kenpachi cursed. "They don't know where I am."

He now remembered everything. He was a Soul Reaper. That was the one vital important information he was forgetting. And Soul Reapers lived in the Soul Society governing the Rukon District where people from Earth came to live after dying. And if they have high enough spiritual power as a Rukon resident, they had the ability to become a Soul Reaper. Even he was once a Rukongai resident. Along with Ikkaku, Yumichika and Yachiru, his Lieutenant.

Now that explained everything with his clothes, why he carried a sword and why Selene could see him and no one else could. Selene possessed high amounts of spirit energy, which meant she'd be able to see Arrancars as well. He had to tell her the truth and tell her he had to leave the minute he was fully healed.

* * *

"Do you have anything to report?" asked Toshiro as he, along with Yumichika and Ikkaku were the only ones in the room.

A month ago the quiet report was out about Kenpachi's disappearance, since then Orihime disappeared too only to learn she went to the Soul Society with Rukia to train for the winter showdown. That left Rangiku and Toshiro staying at her home by themselves.

"Nothing," Ikkaku sighed as he plopped down on Orihime's sofa. "We've looked everywhere. Including where he was last reported. There's nothing but remains of three Arrancars."

"Three?" Toshiro's cerulean eyes widened. "He was attacked by Arrancars before we even arrived? This is not good."

"However," Yumichika added. "We did find at least something there. It is our belief Captain Zaraki defeated the Arrancars and must have been severely wounded to the point he hasn't been able to contact anymore. We haven't stopped searching in that area, but it does get a little difficult when humans keep coming around."

"You've been searching in your Gigais?" Toshiro was amazed by this revelation.

Ikkaku snarled. "Only because of that woman."

"What woman?" Toshiro was now getting a bit confused. He crossed his arms, giving the commanding look of tell or else. "May I remind you that you are here under my leadership?" he asked.

"What Ikkaku is trying to refer to, is the woman we are staying with. She has a major infatuation with him and it often gets on his nerves."

"That wouldn't be the same woman who made you take me and the others into performing at that school tournament all because someone backed out at the last minute, would it?"

"That would be the one," Ikkaku sighed. "She's the sister of one of Ichigo's friends who can see our true selves. Apparently during the Bount attack, he was attacked and Lieutenant Kira happened to help and save his life. Since then, he's been able to see Soul Reapers."

"But she can't?"

"Not that we've able to tell, no," Yumichika answered. "As far as I can see she's just a typical human teenager who just goes nuts over guys and other human things. Reminds me a lot of Rangiku. Except the guys she loves chasing after are those with no hair."

Toshiro sighed, shaking his head. This was not the type of report he wanted to hear. He now was wishing for Rangiku not to meet up with this woman.

"The only good thing between Rangiku and this crazy woman is Rangiku don't like her. She finds her very snobbish."

"Rangiku has met her?" Just great, more annoying news.

"Yes, but the two haven't seen each other since," Ikkaku finished.

"You know Ikkaku where she is at school right now and we're here, this would give us the perfect opportunity to give that area another search and this time we can search properly." Yumichika smirked before producing a soul candy and swallowing it. In an instant, there were two Yumichikas. One dressed as a Soul Reaper and one now host to a soul candy in the faux body.

Ikkaku grinned. "I like that idea and for once we can be away from that annoying woman, though there will be hell to pay when we get back." He produced his own soul candy and soon there were two of him as well.

"Good luck," Toshiro said, as the two were quick to jump out the opened window. He shook his head, deciding it was best to check in on Rangiku who was currently patrolling the neighbourhood.

* * *

Flash stepping as quickly as they could, Ikkaku and Yumichika soon were at the location where the remains of the Arrancars still were. Ikkaku was quite grateful for the change of pace. He gave a content sigh, knowing he wouldn't see that woman.

"This is much better," he commented, gaining the attention of his friend.

"Ikkaku, even though she's annoying pining over you all the time, you have to admit she is a good cook and quite the exceptional hostess."

"I don't care," he snapped. "She's an ungrateful ingrate. She has no idea what she has and takes every bit of advantage to it. She could be killed in an instant for her foolishness by a Hollow."

"That may be so," Yumichika agreed as he began his search, trying to find anything that could lead to their Captain's whereabouts. "But isn't that beauty of low reitsu humans? Since she has no spirit energy, she's currently not a direct target unless ends up in the cross fire."

His thoughts trailed off as something caught his attention. Wanting a better assessment, Yumichika bent down to get a further inspection. His action caught Ikkaku's attention.

"What? You see something?"

"I believe I have," he answered. "From the looks of this, it looks like blood."

"Blood?" Ikkaku was quick to be at his friend's side and took a further peek of it. He looked at it for several moments until turning to look at his friend. "No doubt about it and from where those Arrancar bodies are to this blood, it would have to be the Captain's."

"And from the angle of the blood, he sustained a head injury, which could explain the lack of communication from him. If he's wounded, his spirit levels won't be detectable until he was getting better."

Standing, Yumichika closed his eyes, searching out for any high spiritual levels. He was able to pick up faint levels in various locations, all belonging to humans who all had low levels but there were two levels he was able to make out, stronger than any others around. One of the two was even stronger. While Yumichika tried to hone in on any spiritual levels, Ikkaku continued his exploration on the ground.

"He's alive!" he announced suddenly. "And someone's with him, or at least nearby him."

"And I just found more blood," Ikkaku pointed out. "There's a trail and it looks like blood drips from a weapon."

"The Captain's sword perhaps?" suggested Yumichika. "Let's go! But first let's deal with the remains of these before any humans possibly might find them."

"Good idea."

For an hour the two dealt with the bodies of the Arrancars before leaving, heading in the direction of the blood drops; in the hopes the blood drops would lead them to where their leader was. With it being the first time being able to properly hunt for their Captain without causing questions to their hostess, this was the best lead for them to follow. Taking a couple hours, the two soon they came upon a ranch and the blood drops stopped at the barn doors of empty stables.

"No doubt about it," Ikkaku smiled. "He's here."

"And he's not alone," Yumichika threw in. "We best be cautious about this. It's a good bet whoever this human is, can see him as by the feel of his spirit energy, it's stronger. And with the wounds he no doubt had, he probably would have died without any medical attention."

"They are in that house," Ikkaku pointed. He then began to make his way towards the house.

* * *

Sitting at the table, finishing with lunch, Selene noticed Kenpachi had been quiet since breakfast, too quiet for her liking. "Earth to Kenpachi," she called, reaching over, waving a hand in front of his face.

Her hand was swiftly snatched the instant she waved. "I'm not deaf or blind," he retorted before blinking, turning his gaze towards her for the first time, not letting go of her wrist.

"Then what's with the far off look?" she asked, wanting to pull her hand back but his grip was too strong for her.

"What's it to you?" he asked, annoyed. For a moment he closed his eye before releasing her hand and then looked back at her. "I have something important to speak about and have been thinking about how to explain it."

Selene raised a brow before getting the clue. "You remember everything!"

"I do," he answered. He leaned back, crossing his arms. "And now I must leave. Well when I'm healed enough."

His words were quick to sink in at the idea he was going to leave. She leaned back in her seat. "And I suppose you'll never see me again."

"That is a good bet," he answered. "I've told you more than I should have." He paused, contemplating in telling her the rest. What was the harm? "I'm known as a Soul Reaper, which is why you can see me. Soul Reapers help the dead pass on to the Soul Society and to destroy hollows."

"But why does that allow me to see you?" she asked, slightly nervous by the idea of him being a 'Soul Reaper'.

"Soul Reapers are spirits. Some are born in the Soul Society while others, like myself, were once humans of this world and died only to live in the Soul Society."

Not knowing what to say, Selene stood from the table, going over to the sink, leaning her hands on the counter. This was not what she was expecting to be his answer. And what was worse, she had sex with man who was actually a spirit.

Kenpachi watched her move over to the sink, remaining silent. He knew this was going to be tough, but she had to deal with it. He didn't have time to baby-sit a human who couldn't handle the truth.. Getting tired of the silence after several minutes, he stood.

"Look woman," he remarked. "Do you think if I had known I was a Soul Reaper, I would have allowed myself to have sex with you?"

"That's all it was to you, wasn't it?" she finally said. "Just a day of nothing but passion."

"Don't try and put the guilt trip on me," he started, getting defensive. "You were the one who came onto me, egging me on. So don't you dare think what we had was only one sided, because it wasn't. You wanted it just as badly as I did. And I have to say. You were one hell of a woman."

Her cheeks flared, knowing what he meant by that. "So what, I'm just another floozy you can just toy around with?" Just with his words alone, she knew he had many one-night stands and most were just probably like yesterday was.

"Hell no," he snapped out. "What happened yesterday was a complete fluke. Normally I'm drunker than a skunk when I take women to bed. This was different. I was fully sober and was in my right mind in what I was doing."

She finally turned around, facing him. "And now you're going to leave, which makes yesterday just a big fling in the hay."

"Don't put the blame on me woman," he snapped.

"Will you stop calling me woman!" she yelled. "I have a name, use it!" She was literally getting sick and tired of him calling her by her gender. It was very annoying and sounded very sexiest like men were better or something.

"I'll call you whatever I damn well please," he growled back, grinning, loving the idea of provoking her anger. That was what caused their roll in the hay in the first place.

"Damn you!" she screamed before storming out of the kitchen, heading out to cool off. She was quick to slam the door open just as two strange men approached her porch. Her eyes were hard set on anger but the moment her eyes fell on the two men all color drained from her face. Her legs felt like jello as she leaned onto one of the porch pillars, taking a seat on the steps, staring at them. They were dressed like Kenpachi with swords.

"I wasn't finished talking to you…" Kenpachi came storming out, growling but the second his one eye fell on his men, his words died. A wide grin formed as he stared at the men. "Ikkaku. Yumichika."

Selene gasped at the two names. Those were the same names, she heard him call out in his sleep. Her heart sank further at the realization. They were searching for him and now finally found him.

The two men smiled at the Captain.

"Mission accomplished!" Ikkaku yelled out with a grin.

"It is good to see you again Captain," Yumichika smiled, staring at the woman who obviously was able to see them. "And it would seem you have been in good company with a good looking woman, I might add."

Ikkaku stopped his cheering as he noticed his Captain was walking with a limp. "You're still wounded."

"And just this morning, finally remembered everything. Dealing with a concussion and forgetting everything but your own name isn't exactly what I call fun."

"So that's what happened." Yumichika turned from the paled woman to the tall man beside her. "In town there's a member of Squad 4. He arrived shortly after Orihime was said to have gone to the Soul Society to train." Judging from the woman's face and their Captain, it was easy to deduce she knew what was going on.

"I see." Kenpachi remained stationed on the porch steps, standing beside Selene. He looked down at her for a moment. "I would like to introduce you to my 3rd and 5th seats Ikkaku and Yumichika. Men, this is Selene. She's been caring for me since I found myself in her barn."

"Explains the blood trial ending at that structure," Yumichika said.

Kenpachi blinked, surprised. "You found me by my blood trail? How the hell did you come up with that idea?"

Grinning, Yumichika folded his arms. "It's not that hard Captain. You love to fight and probably a great fight with those Arrancars since it was three to one. After defeating them, you had left the battle field, heading off for some help and since, as you said, couldn't remember, you just kept travelling until coming here."

Kenpachi snorted. "Never pegged you guys to do something like that." He looked down at Selene once again. "Selene, is there enough to feed my men? They probably have been searching for quite awhile."

Hearing her name be called once again, she shook her head, fighting off the dizzy spell. "Ah… yeah…" she answered, slowly getting to her feet. "There's leftovers from lunch."

"Good." Kenpachi turned away from his men, heading back inside. He knew the others would follow.

Yumichika saw Selene looked a little lightheaded. As he stepped up the steps, after Ikkaku who followed the Captain inside, Yumichika touched Selene's shoulder.

"Will you be alright?" he asked in slight concern.

Selene wanted to recoil from his touch, but found herself not having the energy to do so. She looked at him; still shocked that everything Kenpachi said to her was the truth. "Yeah… I think so. Just a little overwhelmed."

"I suppose us arriving here, wasn't exactly what you would call a conventional means of first contact with Soul Reapers. But then again humans who can see us are often freak out."

With a nod, she took a step forward but nearly fell if not for Yumichika. He could see she was overly distracted by their arrival. Then again, from the way she appeared on the porch, angered, she was just arguing with Kenpachi. But there was something else, something he could tell with the two of them. It was something he couldn't put his finger on it and wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Mr…"

"Yumichika," he answered. "And you don't need the honorifics. My first name will suffice. Shall we accompany the Captain inside?"

She nodded and took a careful step inside. Luckily for her, Yumichika remained at her side until she reached the kitchen, taking a seat while he, like Ikkaku, helped himself to the leftovers on the stove from lunch.

* * *

When evening approached, Kenpachi's two men had yet to leave the ranch, not sure if they should and return back to their duty or wait until Kenpachi was fully healed. The man was walking with a limp, but was on the mend. For Selene, she remained quiet most of the day. Too overwhelmed by everything that was going on. Kenpachi was soon going to leave and two of his men had been out looking for him and finally found him after a month of searching.

She quietly listened as the three men chattered about their current mission and how a Captain Yamamoto had ordered a Captain Hitsugaya to send the two of them out to find their missing Captain without causing alarm to Aizen or his men. Hearing the names of the other Captains, confused Selene to the point she decided to finally leave the room, going to her room where the evidence still remained of their entire day of sex. There she rested until Kenpachi found her staring at the bed like a zombie.

"Are you thinking the bed will jump out and attack you?" asked Kenpachi as he broke the silence in the room.

Selene, not realizing he was there, jumped, falling right into his arms. "Kenpachi!" she gasped, cheeks flaming. "What are you…"

"You and I have some unfinished business to deal with," he answered. "My men just left back for town to inform the others of where I'm at. Tomorrow I'll be leaving since they will send someone here to help heal the rest of my wounds."

"Tomorrow…" she blinked, not wanting to believe it.

"Do you really want to know the truth?" he suddenly asked as he stared into her eyes. "Fine. I'll admit. What happened in here yesterday was truly amazing and I'll never forget it… at least not as long as I have my memories. But we both know it shouldn't have happened. But I'm not going to dwell on it because it did and I don't regret it."

She quietly gasped again. "You don't?"

"If you were in the Soul Society, I would have you in my bed every night, but we both know that can never happen. You're a human. I'm not. I haven't been a human for at least 300 years or more. I don't know. I don't remember too much of my life in the Rukon District except for the last several years before becoming a Soul Reaper. "

She casted her eyes down, averting from looking at him at the prospect he wanted to sleep with her again but they both knew that shouldn't happen.

"I should also warn you I'm a fighter. I live to fight. Life is very boring with the glorious of a good battle. As for the boy Ichigo, yes, we were talking about the same Ichigo. He can cross over to the Soul Society and he and I had a great battle, which he won. The more I fight, the happier I am. That's what Squad 11 is all about. We are the strongest fighting Squad in the whole 13 Court Guard Squads and I don't fear dying."

Selene stepped back away from the large man, taking in his words. "You're a fighter…"

"I will kill those in my way. Including other Captains. I even killed my former Captain, just to take his position. I will kill in cold blood. I'm no saint nor do I want to be." He stepped toward her, cupping her face in his large hand. "But there's something that I can't shake."

Selene took a gulp of air, trying to will her heart to stop pounding so hard. Just his one hand alone, he could snap her neck in two, but he was a Soul Reaper, Soul Reapers killed Hollows and protect humans. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing would come out.

"I'm leaving here not because I want to, but because I have to. Humans and Soul Reapers aren't really supposed to interact together and what we did yesterday is totally against the law, which could get me killed." He then snorted. "I like to see them try."

One of his fingers slid up her chin, tracing her check to her jaw. "This will be our little secret. Something I will treasure. No woman will ever be able to hold a candle to the flame you lit within."

She gasped once again. He was confessing his feelings, although not the usual means but she didn't have to have those three little words to tell her, his whispered words was enough.

Before she was able to utter a word back, his lips pushed against hers as was her body until her legs banged against the bed and she fell on top of the blankets with him on top of her. There was no time for her react as he was pulling her clothes off, sending her body back to the heights it was at during their love nest of yesterday. For hours the two worshipped one another until falling asleep in one another's arms.

* * *

With the new day and as Ikkaku and Yumichika promised a member of Squad 4 was at the ranch, healing the rest of Kenpachi's wounds, allowing him the ability to leave and head back to the Soul Society where he would make a very long report omitting one important detail… having sex and falling for a human woman.

It was a sad day for Selene. For an entire month, she wanted to get rid of the man but now she didn't want him to leave but he had no choice. He had other obligations to deal with, namely protecting the World of the Living from Aizen.

Once Kenpachi was healed, the Squad 4 member was quick to make his leave, heading back to town as he was ordered to an emergency from Captain Hitsugaya, leaving the three members of Squad 11 with the human woman.

"Well its time," Kenpachi announced an hour after he was fully healed.

"Yes," agreed Yumichika, as he stood from the chair he was sitting on. For the past hour he had been watching his Captain and finally caught on to what was really going on. But he wasn't about to say anything because then it would get his Captain into a lot of trouble and that was something he would not and could not afford. Both his Captain and Selene were on the sofa while he and Ikkaku occupied two matching chairs to the sofa. Ikkaku had no desire to know what was going on, he had his own problems with women to deal with.

"Good," Ikkaku grinned, but then his smile faded. "Damn, that woman is going to get on my nerves again."

"Just be glad she gives you good food," Kenpachi said as he pulled on a fresh haori over his shihakusho. "The food served at the barracks is pathetic compared to human food cooked by humble women."

Selene blushed at his compliment. "I'm glad you enjoyed my food. As I told you, not many do."

"Well I for one, enjoyed it as well," Yumichika answered.

The four stood and walked to the door. Selene stopped on the front porch as three stepped down. Kenpachi stopped at the bottom as his two men continued several feet and stopped and slightly turned to him, waiting.

"Thank you for everything," Kenpachi said quietly so the other two wouldn't hear. "I'll stop by the next time I'm in Karakura Town."

"I'll miss you," she said slowly.

He turned away and looked at his men. "I don't need an audience!" he snapped at them. "Now move!"

Yumichika shook his head slowly as Kenpachi approached them. When he reached the two, they turned back facing the path and began to make their way down leading to the stables with their Captain. Ikkaku had his sword resting over his shoulder, while Kenpachi's haori blew in the breeze that whirled around them.

Selene watched them leave, tears streaming down her face, hoping Kenpachi would turn and look at her one more time. As they reached the stables, Kenpachi stopped for a moment, turning to look at her. She caught his eye and stared at him for several seconds before she raised a shaky hand, giving him a small wave goodbye.

"I love you…" she whispered as Kenpachi turned back, meeting up with his men.

"You didn't use the memory replacement on her," Yumichika pointed as they approached the barn. Ikkaku looked to see it was true.

"She'll never see me again, I don't think, so why make her forget?" shrugged Kenpachi.

"You like her?" Yumichika remarked.

"Are you serious!" squeaked Ikkaku.

"Will you two shut up," groaned their Captain. "I don't need be patronized by the likes of the two of you."

Selene watched as the three disappeared behind the bard before returning back into the house and trying to move on with her life, never thinking there could be more to Kenpachi leaving her memories in tacked. It never once crossed her mind that it would be possible to happen between someone from another world, but as fate would have it, several months later, Selene was given the best gift of all. A gift that only Kenpachi would have been able to give to her. A child.

Fini!

* * *

_Author's Notes: I may or may not do a continuation as the OC was not mine but the lady who commissioned it._


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